Woof!

It has been an amazing week! I am the proud aunt of baby James Nathaniel, who was born on Monday morning! I cannot wait to meet him in person later this summer.

I jumped at the opportunity to make a softie for the new baby since my mom is making a quilt. Finding the right pattern for your nephew’s softie is tough! I looked and looked until I found the Purl Soho Pup on the Purl Bee, it was perfect.

I made the decision to shrink the pattern 25% to make his size a little more manageable (boy, where those feet tough to sew on!). The full size pattern finishes at 17″ long – way too big for a tiny baby – mine finished about 13″. I used Sherpa for the body for cuddle factor and Carolyn Friedlander’s Widescreen in blue.

A little bit of black felt for the nose and embroidery thread for the eyes and we have a Pup! My nephew, Zachary, who is two and a half, loves his Tigger and I hope that this softie will be as well received.

And because no baby post is complete with out a picture of a baby, his mom gave me permission to share one:

Welcome to the world, James Nathaniel! You and your brother are going to have so much fun.

 

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“Z” Drawstring Backpack

Handmade gifts, it is what I pride myself in doing for my nephew. He may not appreciate them now, but I know that his mom does and that he will one day. Yes, he LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and yes he already has a lot of them.

He turned two on Friday! TWO! (Where did the time go?) I got him an Uncle Goose BUG Alphabet block set which I have been eyeing since he was born. The blocks are manufactured by hand in Michigan, hand painted, colorful and feature BUGS! Bugs are perfect for a two year old boy. I continued the ABC theme with The Sleepy Little Alphabet: A Bedtime Story from Alphabet Town which has darling illustrations. I still needed something handmade…

I decided that a bag would be perfect, I could pack the blocks in it for shipping and he could pack his trains to go when he goes on adventures with mom and dad. A drawstring backpack would be lightweight and easy to carry! I personalized it with a big yellow Z.

I have had the Cloud 9 Laddies and Poppets fabric for awhile since the pattern was too large for the grab balls and other toys I have made, so the backpack was a perfect place to use it. I even had the felt and cording in the house! I followed Liz Stanley’s Drawstring Backpack Tutorial but adjusted the size for the fat quarter I was using. Since I was only using quilting cotton and you could almost see through the white, I lined the inside of the bag with a solid blue fabric and just wave stitched the two fabrics together.

It turned out to be the perfect size for him and hopefully he will enjoy using it.

 

Past gifts: Bird Mobile, Grab Balls and Beach Balls, Quilt (my first!), and Mr. Penguin

Exciting news!

It’s official, I have some of my work in a brick and mortar store! Nice Things…Handmade, a great local store in Philadelphia, has four of my grab balls in the shop. I went in to purchase a birthday card and asked the owner if she would be interested and she was! So I quickly ordered business cards with my new logo and got to work.

I pulled some fabrics from my stash and whipped up four of them over the course of a week. If you are looking for a beautiful (if I do say so myself), unique baby or toddler gift and are in the Philly area, swing down to Nice Things…Handmade on East Passyunk Avenue and check them out!